KR20050044747A - Plate - Google Patents

Abstract

A plate (1), particularly a motor vehicle license plate, comprises a housing (3) having a rear wall (4) and a forward-projecting edge (5), which encircles said rear wall (4) while enclosing a light passage opening (7). A flat symbol support extending parallel to the rear wall (4) of the housing can be viewed through said light passage opening. For illuminating, an electrically activatable luminous film (14) is provided between the rear wall and the symbol support and emits light from behind through at least the areas of high transparency of the symbol support. In order to obtain reflective properties, a reflecting film (15) is placed in front of the luminous film while being parallel thereto. Said reflecting film is transparent, at least in areas, to the light of the luminous film coming from behind and reflects incident extraneous light that passes through the light passage opening from the outside. In order to prevent the formation of Newton rings and the like, a flat adhesive bond is provided between the inside of a light pane (9), which is transparent at least in areas and which occludes the light passage opening, and the surface of the reflecting film (15) facing this light pane.

Description

Sign {PLATE}

The invention relates to signs and in particular to a license plate in the manner mentioned in the preamble of claim 1.

The license plate according to this premise is known from German Utility Model 297 12 954.6. The known license plate is arranged in front of the electrically actuated light emitting film in a housing in which a symbol carrier consisting of a rigid plastic plate is formed with a support rim. The light emitting film is composed of an electroluminescent film. It is surrounded by the support rim and has a wide opening through which light passes. Since the symbol carrier is hard, it can be firmly fixed by the support rim, and the electrically active light emitting film behind the symbol carrier can also be fixed.

The known technique is advantageous in that the sign can be directly backlit by the inherently electrically actuated light emitting film even without separate illumination. The known signs therefore save space with a very compact design.

A disadvantage of this known technique is that a rigid plastic plate (i.e., light) which transmits the light from the back which is emitted from the electrically active light emitting film and reflects it against external light entering the symbol carrier from the outside. Suitable for the closing of the opening to be passed). Especially for vehicle signs, the above rigid plastic plates are legally required. It is also necessary for other signs, such as traffic signs.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a signage of the above-mentioned manner, in addition to the self-illumination generated in the electrically active light-emitting film can reflect the external light.

1 is a front view of a sign according to the invention made of a license plate of the vehicle,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, schematically showing a first embodiment in which a reflecting plate is directly attached to a light transmitting plate;

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment according to the present invention in which the reflecting plate is attached to the light transmitting plate by a film coated on both sides with an adhesive like in FIG.

This problem can be solved by using a known plastic film that reflects light in front while passing light in the rear. In particular, retroreflective films fall into this category. The retroreflective film has a fine prism-like structure in which the front side is smooth but the back side is spaced. Therefore, the light in front is reflected by full reflection at the interface. Films with fully integrated reflective structures are also available on the market. The specific structure or physical action of such a film is not the gist of the present invention, and the film (hereinafter referred to as a “reflective film”) used in the present invention has high transparency to the light behind and Light is a film that almost reflects.

Since the reflective film itself is not rigid, it cannot be used as a 'close-plate' of the opening through which the light of the sign housing passes, in a sign known in German Utility Model 297 12 954.6.

In order to fix the electrically active light emitting film and the reflective film disposed in front of the light emitting film to the housing, it is necessary to close the opening through which the light passes, with a plate through which the light passes. The light transmitting plate is transparent in both directions, and in particular, may be structurally supported.

Unless the reflecting plate is fixed separately, the reflecting plate may not be distributed evenly over the entire surface of the inner surface of the light transmitting plate, and thus may partially absorb light. In such cases, even light inside and outside will result in partially bright or dark areas or Newton rings. This not only hurts the aesthetics, but is not particularly allowed in license plates. In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a surface adhesion between the front surface of the reflecting plate facing the inner surface or the rear surface of the light transmitting plate.

The surface adhesion can be realized in various forms.

In particular, in a preferred embodiment, the front side of the reflecting plate is face-bonded with the back side of the light transmissive plate, in which the adhesive is first applied to the front side of the reflecting plate (especially in the transfer method) and then the front side of the reflecting plate is Press on the back. Alternatively, an adhesive is first applied to the back side of the light transmitting plate, and then the front side of the reflecting plate is pressed against the adhesive layer. In this case, the adhesive layer can be formed without separately applying an adhesive to the reflecting plate. The adhesive layer may be complementary to the adhesive layer of the light transmitting plate. In the latter case, the two complementary layers are either self-adhesive or have some adhesive properties, and are materials that jointly produce an adhesive effect only when they come into contact with each other or cause a chemical reaction. Can be configured.

In order to ensure that no significant difference in brightness occurs between active illumination (produced by the luminescent film) or passive illumination (reflecting light from the front), the adhesion must be uniform throughout the entire surface as seen from the front during bonding.

According to another preferred variant, the adhesive connection between the reflecting plate and the light transmitting plate is made by a separate film coated with an adhesive. The film coated with the adhesive has a very high transparency in both directions, so that the reflective plate and the light transmitting plate are connected very closely and uniformly to prevent the occurrence of the aforementioned visual obstacle.

An advantage of the signs according to the invention is that a separate symbol carrier is no longer needed. Rather, the symbol to be displayed on the sign may be located on the front side of the reflecting plate of the reflector, or on the back or front side of the coating film if there is an adhesive coated film on both sides, or on the back or front side of the light transmitting plate. Can be. At this time, it is not necessary that all the symbols are located on the same surface.

It is particularly desirable to place the symbol on one or multiple film surfaces since the symbol can be simply printed.

It is also desirable to insert and support an electrically active film at intervals between the back of the housing and the film positioned in front of the back and tightly connected to the light transmitting plate so that no additional attachment material is required.

The electrically active film can be an electroluminescent film. The electroluminescent film is operated with an alternating voltage in a known manner. The alternating voltage can be generated from the bord direct voltage with the aid of a serial device in the vehicle license plate.

However, it is particularly preferable to use an organic light emitting film (OLED film) as the electrically active light emitting film. The advantage of the OLED film is that it can be operated with a direct voltage derived from bord direct voltage by a very simple additional line. As with the special insulation method, the control electronics required for the electroluminescent film are missing. Another advantage of OLED films is their very high brightness.

Hereinafter will be described an embodiment according to the present invention together with the drawings.

The figure shows embodiments in which a sign 1 for a vehicle license plate according to the present invention is attached to a vehicle body of a vehicle by a known medium (not shown).

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the sign 1 has a back surface 4 and an edge that extends in front of the viewer (i.e. right in Figs. 2 and 3) and surrounds the entire circumference of the back surface. And a housing 3 composed of (5). The back 4 and the rim 5 may be integrally formed.

The edge 5 protruding toward the front forms an opening 7 through which light passes through the transparent light transmitting plate 9. The light transmitting plate 9 is attachable to the edge 5 of the housing 3 by a suitable method.

An electrically active light emitting film 14 having substantially the same surface area as the back surface 4 is located in front of the back surface 4 of the housing 3, wherein one surface of the light emitting film 14 is connected to the light transmitting plate 9. Adjacent to the reflecting plate 15 to be bonded and the other side is located adjacent to the back (4). The distance between the light emitting film 14 and the back surface 4 or the reflecting plate 15 shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is spaced for illustrative purposes only and the distance is actually very narrow.

2 and 3, the electrically active light emitting film 14 located on the left side is connected to a power source so that a voltage can be applied via a switch (not shown). The light emitting film is made of an electroluminescent film or an OLED film. The light emitting film 14 emits light uniformly throughout the activated state. Light emitted from the light is transmitted through various layers (particularly, the light transmitting plate 9) located on the right side of the light emitting film 14 of FIGS. Therefore, in the front of FIG. 1, the whole opening 7 through which light passes is seen bright by the light from the rear.

On the right side of the electrically active light emitting film 14, a reflecting plate is disposed. The reflecting plate reflects external light that passes through the light transmitting plate 9 on the right side. The external light is reflected and returns to a direction which is somewhat the same as the direction entered through the light transmitting plate 9. Moreover, the reflector plate 15 transmits light at least in part to light coming from the rear (ie from the left of FIGS. 2 and 3). Thus, most of the light emitted in the direction of the opening 7 through which light passes from the electrically active light emitting film 14 can pass through the reflecting plate.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the reflecting plate 15 is directly attached to the back surface of the light transmitting plate 9 by surface adhesion. In particular, a transfer method is used for the adhesion. In the transfer method, a layer of transfer adhesive is first applied onto a support paper and then laminated onto the smooth front side of the reflecting plate 15 (ie the non-microprismatic side). Then, the lamination of the reflector plate, the adhesive material and the support paper is cut to the required size, and the support paper is peeled off, and then attached to the back surface of the light transmitting plate 9 and the reflector plate together with the adhesive layer so that air between the layers is released. Pressurized uniformly after 15) (for example, by means of a rubber roller rolling mill). This results in a flat uniform adhesive connection. This results in no partially bright or dark Newton Ring.

This method differs from the light transmissive plate 9 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in which the light transmissive plate 9 is integrally formed with the rim 5 forming the edge, the rim being housing 3. It is also particularly advantageous when it is attached in a detachable manner to the back 4 of the.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, another film 17 is arranged between both sides of the reflecting plate 15 and the light transmitting plate 9. The film 17 is coated with an adhesive material on both sides. The film 17 has a very high light transmittance. Thus, the light inside or from the outside of the electrically active light emitting film 14 passes through the film without any significant decrease in the intensity of the light before and after reflection in the reflecting plate 15.

One adhesive side of the film 16 coated on both sides with the adhesive material is first laminated to the reflector. The other side is covered with protective paper. After cutting as already mentioned above, the protective paper is removed, and the lamination consisting of the reflecting plate 15 and the adhesive film 17 is adhered to the back side of the light transmitting plate 9 in this manner. By doing so, the advantages mentioned above can be achieved here too.

In particular, it can prevent dark spots or Newton rings from being easily distinguished. If you don't have this kind of adhesion when you look at the sign from the outside, the stain or Newton ring will look thicker, which will undermine the aesthetics of the sign and reduce the value of the sign.

As shown in FIG. 1, the symbol 20 represented in the sign is different in transparency from the rest of the symbol carrier except for the symbol and may be located before and after the symbol carrier. In the present invention, the symbol is made not to transmit light. Thus, the symbol appears black compared to the rest of the symbol carrier which transmits light almost completely.

The symbol carrier is an ancillary part. The symbol may be printed on the front surface or the rear surface of the adhesive film 17 in some cases.

It is also possible to provide the symbol 20 on the inner or outer surface of the light transmissive plate 9. In this case, it is also possible to make the symbol protruding (ie, protruding above the plane).

Alternatively, it is also possible to arrange ancillary symbol carriers (made of flat disks or films) not shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in front of the reflector plate 15.

Depending on the purpose of using the signs according to the invention, the symbol carrier may have two or more levels of transparency which differ in transparency. One or several films (ie, the outer surface or the inner surface of the light transmitting plate 9) may be colored differently for each region. Therefore, the sign according to the present invention can be used as a traffic sign or for other uses.

Claims (15)

A housing (3) having a back (4) and a rim (5) forming an opening (7) through which the light projects through and surrounds the back; A flat symbol carrier which is visible through the opening and has an area different in transparency from the symbol so that the symbol 20 located above is distinguished and extends in parallel with the rear surface 4 of the housing; A sign for a vehicle license plate, which is located between the back 4 and the symbol carrier, and includes a light emitting film 4 for electrically activatable illumination, which illuminates at least behind a high transparency area of the symbol carrier. To Located in front of the electrically active light emitting film 14 in parallel with the light emitting film, covering at least a majority of the entire surface of the opening 7 through which the light passes, the electrically active light emitting film 14 Reflecting film 15 for transmitting the light from behind the at least for each region, and reflects the external light coming through the opening (7) through which the light passes, And a light transmitting plate 9 which covers the opening 7 through which the light passes, and which is light-transmitted at least for each area, and which is adhered to the front surface of the reflecting plate 15 with an inner surface facing. sign.        The method of claim 1,       The surface adhesion of the front surface of the said reflection board (15) and the back surface of the said light transmission board (9) is a direct surface bonding (16) characterized by the above-mentioned.        The method of claim 1,       The surface adhesion of the front of the reflecting plate 15 and the back of the light transmitting plate 9 is disposed between the reflecting plate 15 and the light transmitting plate 9, both sides of which are coated with an adhesive, at least a region Star is characterized in that the light is transmitted, one side of the front surface of the reflective film 15 and the other side includes a film (17) which is in surface contact with the back of the light transmitting plate (9).        The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,        And the light transmitting plate is a symbol carrier.        The method according to any one of claims 3 to 4,       Signs, characterized in that the film (17) coated with the adhesive is a symbol carrier.       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,       Signage, characterized in that the reflector (15) is a symbol carrier.       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6,       Signage, characterized in that it further comprises a separate symbol carrier.       The method of claim 7, wherein      And said symbol carrier is of a rigid and unbending plate.       The method of claim 7, wherein       And said symbol carrier is a flexible film.       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,      Signboard, characterized in that the electrically active light emitting film (14) is inserted at intervals between the back (4) of the housing (3) and the reflector plate (15).       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,      Signs, characterized in that the electrically active light emitting film (14) is directly bonded to the back of the reflecting plate (15).       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,      Signs, characterized in that the electrically active light emitting film 14 is bonded by the back of the reflecting plate (15), and through a separate transparent layer.       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,      Signs, characterized in that the electrically active light emitting film (14) is bonded to the back (4) of the housing (3).       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13,      Signs, characterized in that the electrically active light emitting film (14) is an electric luminescence film (electric luminescence) film.       The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14,       And wherein said electrically active light emitting film (14) is a light emitting film with an organic light emitting diode (OLED-film).